46. Hans Brinker

V
SHADOWS IN THE HOME

OOD Dame Brinker! As soon as the scanty dinner
had been cleared away that noon, she had arrayed
herself in her holiday attire in honor of St. Nicholas. “It
will brighten the children,” she thought to herself; and she
was not mistaken. ‘This festival dress had been worn very
seldom during the past ten years: before that time it had done
good service, and had flourished at many a dance and kermis,
when she was known, far and wide, as the pretty Meitje
Klenck. The children had sometimes been granted rare
glimpses of it as it lay in state in the old oaken chest. Faded
and threadbare as it was, it was gorgeous in their eyes, with its
white linen tucker, now gathered to her plump throat, and
vanishing beneath the trim bodice of blue homespun, and its
reddish brown skirt bordered with black. The knitted woollen
mitts, and the dainty cap showing her hair, which generally
was hidden, made her seem almost like a princess to Gretel ;
while Master Hans grew staid and well-behaved as he gazed.
Soon the little maid, while braiding her own golden tresses,
fairly danced around her mother in an ecstasy of admiration.
“O mother, mother, mother! how pretty you are! Look,
Hans! isn’t it just like a picture?”
“Just like a picture,” assented Hans, cheerfully, —“ just
like a picture; only I don’t like those stocking things on the
hands.”